


First Disaster, First Responder

by Dorotheian



Category: xxxHoLic
Genre: Bad Luck, Fire, characters meet before knowing each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-19
Updated: 2015-09-19
Packaged: 2018-04-21 13:12:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4830353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dorotheian/pseuds/Dorotheian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drabble on the disaster that alerted Himawari to her condition when she was small. Her neighborhood is a small world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Disaster, First Responder

Watanuki didn’t remember, because he moved to the neighborhood long after it all happened. He was blissfully unaware. It wasn’t like there was any evidence to tell him of the history when he moved in. A new building had been constructed where the other house once stood, the house that used to be the one next to Himawari’s old house, before she moved away—and how would Watanuki know where Himawari’s old house was? Perhaps even Himawari didn’t remember that house very well anymore. But she remembered the fire, the incident that had alerted her great-grandmother to her terrible potential, and so did Doumeki.

As usual, Doumeki’s grandfather, the priest Haruka, was one of the first people on the scene when the fire was spotted; and indeed, those who knew of his reputation for presentiment would not have been surprised to learn that he had started running even  _before_  the fatal spark landed. The story went that Himawari had tossed a red rubber ball over the fence, and it had landed on a patch of dry grass, and a spark had ignited it. Before Himawari’s stunned and frightened eyes the fire raced across the grass and soon the house next door was consumed in flames. Haruka appeared with a hoarse shout and a bucket of water, the contents of which he threw into the conflagration in haste—but far too late. Haruka stepped between Himawari and the fire and began chanting to magically dampen the fire down. Doumeki, who never seemed to wander very far from Haruka, came flying around the corner, huffing and puffing. Shizuka grasped the situation at once, roughly grabbed the shivering, mesmerized girl by the arm, and dragged her away to the safety of the streets and held her fast until Doumeki was sure she would not run back into danger. Only then, when Himawari had calmed and Doumeki was sure it was safe, was Himawari allowed to stand apart on her own two feet. They watched the fire, Himawari with the tips of her fingers in her mouth, Doumeki with hands stuffed in pockets. His brow puckered as he kept one olive eye on her at all times, ever the protective one.

On the forefront, deep in concentration, Haruka wiped sweat from his brow and wondered how the raging fire could be so resistant to his magic. The sight was dramatic, and hard to forget. Within the hour the house had burned completely to the ground as it absolutely should not have, and Haruka changed his efforts from dampening the fire to protecting the houses beside it. Yet the family who lived there was fortunate, and no lives were lost: they had all been away at work or at school, for the fire had begun in the late morning.

In the days and weeks after the fire, Himawari became the object of troubling and uncomfortable scrutiny. Finally, tired of the gossip and worried for her own reasons, her grandmother resolved to take her to the temple. There Haruka and Himawari met for the last time, and Himawari learned of her fate. In truth, Haruka spoke a good many words, many encouraging and positive, which helped somewhat to hearten Himawari’s grandmother. Himawari, who was very young, struggled to follow and grasp at their reasoning, however; she seized upon the one horrifying conclusion she could comprehend, replaying the conversation over and over in her mind as she grew.


End file.
